Am I Dead
by Music's Fallen Angel
Summary: Danny talks with Aiden and realizes something but is it too late? DL. Rated T cause I don't know what do rate it...


**A/N: okay I'm writin this at like midnight cause I can't sleep…man it sucks…ok well its based off of an episode of Criminal Minds. On with the DL!**

**Disclaimer: I own none of it. Poor me.**

(((CSI: NY)))

Danny was exhausted. He hadn't slept in roughly thirty-six hours. He had been pulled out of his long awaited vacation along with Lindsay, Flack, Mac, Stella, and Hawkes. A mentally insecure man had tried to frame Danny already and all of them were working around the clock to try and find this man who had one girl hostage, killed two men, and seriously injured one other.

'I'll just rest my eyes a moment.' Danny thought to himself as he lay on the couch in the break room. He knew he should have been working but it was hard when the words on the page wouldn't stay in focus.

"Danny, wake up! Mac's coming!" Lindsay shook him.

"I'm up! I'm up!" Danny shot up just as Mac walked into the room.

"Danny, when was the last time you slept?" Mac questioned the detective.

"Um…I don't know…beyond twenty-four hours but it all sorta blurs together now…" Danny mumbled through his thick accent while struggling to keep his eyes open.

"Hey, Flack," Mac called out the door way. "Take Danny here home."

"Fine, come on Danny." Flack helped Danny stand up.

(((CSI: NY)))

Upon interring his apartment, Danny dropped his badge on the coffee table in front of the couch next to his handgun that he kept just in case and let himself collapse on the old couch.

No sooner had he started to drift off then he heard a raspy voice hiss, "I told you to just forget about what you saw! I told you to drop it! Why can't you people just listen for once! One time! That's all I asked for!"

Danny's eyes shot open and he locked eyes with their prime suspect, Jason Bridges. The detective's adrenaline really started to pound when he saw Jason's finger on the trigger of a handgun and that the gun was pointed right at his head. Danny's eyes flickered from the gun, to Jason's face, to his gun on the table, and back to Jason's gun. Danny Messer, in a rushed decision based on self preservation jumped for the gun on the table. A shot was heard before it all went black.

(((CSI: NY)))

The next day Mac stopped Flack in the hallway.

"Hey, where's Danny?" Mac asked his voice full of concern

"I haven't seen him since I dropped him off-"

"What?! You left him alone when there's a man that's already tried to frame him on the loose?! We have reason to believe that he has Danny's address! What were you thinking?! You know what I'll tell you what you were thinking! The fact is you weren't!" Mac growled.

Flack hung his head. He knew that he shouldn't have left Danny alone with out some sort of protection but he thought that Danny could take care of himself and it wasn't like the killer had tried to murder Danny. He had only tried to frame him.

"I thought he'd be okay. The guy only tried to frame him not kill him." Flack tried to explain, but as soon as the words left his mouth he realized that it sounded a lot better in his head.

Mac just shook his head and ordered Flack to take a cop or two and check up on Danny. Flack nodded and left.

Just then Lindsay came down the hall and asked, "What's going on?"

Mac sighed and answered, "Flack left Danny alone, and now Danny hasn't shown up for work."

Lindsay's eyes grew wide. "You don't think…"

"I don't know, Lindsay. I truly don't know."

(((CSI: NY)))

Flack and two other cops walked towards Danny's apartment only to find the door wide open. As they stepped into the doorway Flack was flooded with grief and shock. They saw Danny on the ground in a pool of his own blood with a shot in his chest. Flack wasted no time dialing 9-1-1.

"Hold on Danny." Flack said kneeling by his friend's body.

(((CSI: NY)))

"Whoa, what happened to me? Where am I?" Danny wondered aloud as he took a look around.

He was in what looked like a one-room cabin. It had a cozy feel; it even had a fire blazing in the fireplace. As he took in his surroundings a voice behind him made him jump.

"I never thought I'd see you here."

Danny whipped around and his mouth almost fell open in shock. "Aiden?"

(((CSI: NY)))

At the hospital Flack sat in the waiting room his head in his hands. All he knew was that Danny was taken into surgery. As he sat there mentally beating himself up someone sat down next to him.

"Hey, Flack. How is he?" Lindsay asked from beside him.

He didn't even look up as he answered, "He's in surgery. I don't know any more."

Lindsay put an arm around him in an attempt to comfort him.

"Don't beat yourself up. You didn't know that he was going to get shot." Lindsay fought back tears.

All Lindsay could think about was how she wished that she could have let him know how she felt. She tried to push the ominous thought that maybe it was too late into the back of her mind but it was in vain.

'Come on, Danny. You've always been a fighter. You've gotta pull through this.' Lindsay silently prayed.

(((CSI: NY)))

"Hello, Mr. Messer," Aiden greeted with a smile.

"Hey, cut it out. You sound like that guy off of the Matrix." Danny smiled back. "Um…so just wondering…am I dead or somethin?"

"No, not yet…its really up to you to choose to fight this or to just let go and…move on to say." Aiden looked Danny right in the eyes.

"Aiden, I don't know…I mean I really want to fight this. I want to fight it. I haven't won Lindsay's heart yet, and wow that sounded really dumb." Both Aiden and Danny shared a laugh.

As soon as Danny sobered he continued, "Of course there's this other part of me…it tells me to just give up cause I'm gonna die later anyways and with this job…all you ever see is death and hurt and…" Danny sighed.

"Do you love her?" Aiden asked.

"Who?" Danny looked up.

"Oh, don't play dumb with me, Messer. Do you love Lindsay?"

"I…I don't…I'm not sure." Danny answered as he looked away.

"Do you want to see her again?" Aiden continued to question.

"Of course," Danny answered confidently.

"Do you think about her often?"

"Often would be an understatement!"

"Do you like her for just her physical beauty?"

"Heck no! You should talk to her she's smart and funny and…oh yeah…you kinda can't…my bad."

"No problem. Do you want her to be happy no matter what?"

"I'd chop off my leg to make her happy." Danny didn't quite see where this was going.

"What's her favorite flavor of milkshake?" Aiden smirked.

"A combination of banana, chocolate, and strawberry, duh!" Danny replied without hesitation.

"You're in love. No doubt about it." Aiden simply stated.

"So I should fight this?" Danny looked her in the eye

"Hey, that's your call, but personally I think you oughta fight this with everything you got."

Danny nodded.

(((CSI: NY)))

The doctor entered the waiting room looking for Flack and Lindsay.

"Detectives Flack and Monroe?" He asked them.

Both nodded solemnly dreading bad news.

"You'll be glad to know that Mr. Messer is expected to make a full recovery." He gave them a small smile as relief swept their faces. "You may go and see him but no guaranties that he'll stay awake for long."

"You go on back. I'll call Mac and the others and relay the message." Flack told Lindsay. She nodded and followed the doctor to Danny's room.

"Hey there," She smiled at Danny.

"Hey," he greeted groggily but with a smile.

She walked over to his bedside and grabbed his hand. He smiled one last time before falling into peaceful sleep. When he woke up again he grinned seeing that Lindsay was still there, and she was still holding his hand.

"Montana, I gotta tell you somethin." He looked her directly in the eye.

"I'm all ears, Messer." She smiled.

"When I was out, I talked to Aiden. She made me realize somethin."

"Really, what was that?"

"That I love you, Lindsay 'Montana' Monroe." Danny confessed.

"Well that makes it a lot easier to tell you that I love you Danny Messer." She smirked.

Danny motioned for her to lean closer. "I gotta tell you a secret."

When she leaned in he placed his hand at the nape of her neck and pulled her into a loving kiss.

And that is how Flack found them. He quickly whipped out his camera phone and snapped a picture. "And the pot is mine!" He muttered to himself. "Lets see, we all put down twenty bucks…so…yes! One hundred forty bucks here I come."

"What was that about a hundred and forty buck?" Danny questioned Flack.

Flack spun around embarrassed, "Erm…Uh nothin, its nothin. You two just keep doin what you were doin."

Danny grinned mischievously, "I got no problems with that."

Flack did not need to see anymore thus walked away with a slight spring in his step. He had the proof. That money was as good as his!

(((CSI: NY)))

Flack gathered his money happily from Mac, Stella, Hawkes, and a couple of lab techs.

"Hey, let me see that picture again." Stella requested.

Flack flipped open his phone and gloated as he flashed the picture.

"Aw, it's so cute!" the female lab tech cooed.

"As long as I don't have to break up tongue wrestling…" Mac cringed at the though.

"Bad mental image…leaving now!" Hawkes exclaimed.

Everyone else shivered in disgust at the thought.

"How long before we got mini-Messers runnin around the lab?" Stella joked.

"Oh man, with those two…" Flack smirked.

"I think I smell another bet coming." Mac slapped down a ten.

"I'm gonna say two years." Stella stated.

As they all set their guesses, Flack made a mental note to thank Danny. Maybe even buy him a beer. 'Ooh that's a plan. If I get them drunk enough…'

(((CSI: NY)))

**A/N: okay so what'd you think? I really love reviews. They give me a warm fuzzy feeling inside hint hint**

_**F.G.**_


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